In the area of packaging pieces of confectionary, particularly stick gum, it has been customary to package the individual sticks of gum in a flexible package. Conventional packages typically hold a small number of pieces, e.g. five, and are opened by manipulating a narrow strip or cord which is wrapped around one end of the package. For the conventional gum package, one end of the strip or cord is exposed and pulling on this end unwraps the strip to tear open the end of the package and expose the stick gum. The torn-off end of the package and the strip are then no longer useful and become refuse which must be discarded. Also, once such conventional packages are opened to remove one or more sticks of gum, they cannot be reclosed. The end of the package remains open, and there is no lid or cover to reclose the package. The package must be maintained in an upright position to keep the pieces from falling out. Adhesion between individual sticks of gum and the package itself is relied upon to retain the remaining sticks of gum in the open package. This is often unsatisfactory and inconvenient. In addition, since the sticks of gum are exposed to the elements, they often dry out quickly and become brittle. Thus, they do not remain fresh for long after the package is opened.
Other methods of packaging stick gum have been used over the years. For example, adhesively attaching the wrappers of individual sticks to one another within the package has been used to attempt to retain sticks of gum inside the package once it has been torn open. As sticks of gum are removed, however, the empty wrappers remain attached to one another in the package and this results in a bulky empty package. In addition, conventional stick gum packaging which uses a tearoff end is sometimes not easy or convenient to open. Further, none of the conventional packaging methods discussed above contemplate actual reclosure of the container to retain and reseal the remaining sticks of gum in the container subsequent to the initial opening of the package.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a stick gum package which is easy to open. It is another object of the present invention to provide a stick gum package which is reclosable to contain the unused sticks of gum after initial opening, and to reseal them in the package. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a reclosable package for stick gum which is simple and convenient to use. It is another object of the present invention to provide a method for constructing a reclosable stick gum package which is cost effective, and may easily be adapted for use in connection with conventional stick gum packaging technology. While the preferred embodiment, described below, pertains to stick gum wrapping, the present invention may be used in connection with any similar container in which individual units of a commodity are packaged.